Merck KGaA has announced its current site network in Western Europe will be refined as the company’s life- sciences business invests EUR 90 million ($102.7 million) in four sites in Germany, Switzerland, and France.

As part of its plan, the company said it will optimize the manual-filling capability and the manual filling and distribution of non-regulated laboratory chemicals and reagents by consolidating this activity from its sites in Darmstadt, Steinheim, Hohenbrunn (Germany), and Buchs (Switzerland) into a central distribution center in Schnelldorf (Germany).

It also will invest approximately EUR 90 million ($102.7 million) to develop a manual-filling capability and increase capacity in Schnelldorf and to further develop capabilities in Darmstadt, Buchs, and Molsheim (France). The existing Hamburg (Germany) site will continue to operate as before.

The company’s operations in Steinheim, Eppelheim, Hohenbrunn and Berlin (Germany) will be relocated and sequentially closed in the course of 2019 to 2022. There will be a net impact of approximately 200 fewer positions across these sites until 2022.

The moves are part of a continuous evaluation of the company’s global site network. Since 2010, the life sciences business of Merck KGaA has consolidated 18 manufacturing sites to further simplify operations and establish centers of excellence. Following the $17-billion acquisition of Sigma Aldrich in 2015, the life-science business of Merck KGaA is comprised of 65 production facilities and 130 distribution centers globally and has more than 19,000 employees in 66 countries.

Source: Merck KGaA